


Three Brothers

by Nightdog_Barks



Category: House M.D.
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-06-07
Updated: 2006-06-07
Packaged: 2017-10-03 07:29:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,093
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15640
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nightdog_Barks/pseuds/Nightdog_Barks
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Wilson considers his family and his lost brother</p>
            </blockquote>





	Three Brothers

**Author's Note:**

> My first real try at this. I gratefully acknowledge the help and suggestions of **Silverjackal**.

# 

 

 

  
  
  
| nightdog_barks ([](http://nightdog-barks.livejournal.com/profile)[**nightdog_barks**](http://nightdog-barks.livejournal.com/)) wrote in [](http://community.livejournal.com/housefic/profile)[**housefic**](http://community.livejournal.com/housefic/),  
@ [2006](http://community.livejournal.com/housefic/2006/)-[06](http://community.livejournal.com/housefic/2006/06/)-[07](http://community.livejournal.com/housefic/2006/06/07/) 23:33:00  
  
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**Title:** Three Brothers  
**Author:** [](http://nightdog-writes.livejournal.com/profile)[**nightdog_writes**](http://nightdog-writes.livejournal.com/)  
**Pairing:** Gen  
**Rating:** PG-13  
**Warnings:** Implied mental illness  
**Summary:** Wilson considers his family and his lost brother  
**Disclaimer:** Don't own 'em in any way, shape, or form.  
**Notes:** My first real try at this. I gratefully acknowledge the help and suggestions of **Silverjackal**.

**Three Brothers**

 

David was the oldest.  
Jonathan was the youngest.  
James was in-between.

He thought about that, sometimes. What it meant to be in the middle -- the center point in the cycle of hand-me-downs, the peacemaker between older and younger, the never-quite-fitting-in between the respected eldest and the adored baby.

 

David was the smartest.  
James tried the hardest.  
Jonathan coasted.

When he was really in a reflective mood, he wondered about their names. Had his parents suspected, even then, what was coming upon David, about to consume him like a raging lion? Was Jonathan meant to be his oldest brother's companion, his steady rock? In the end, no one had been a rock. The lion had devoured them all.

 

James was the doctor.  
Jonathan was the geologist.  
David was the lawyer.

The trouble had become obvious a year after David passed the bar. Jonathan was somewhere in Alberta, Canada, researching tar sands, and hadn't been able to make it home in time for Thanksgiving. After the turkey, and cranberry sauce, and Aunt Zelda's special Jello mold that she made every year and everyone hated although no one would say so, David had talked of the taps on his phone, and how the Secret Service agents had tried to contact him by passing coded messages in the grocery store. He knew what "Clean up on aisle nine" _really_ meant, and it wasn't good.

They'd thought he was kidding, at first. Being funny.

He wasn't.

 

Jonathan has three kids of his own now; he's never told them they have an Uncle David.  
James has none; he's divorced ... again.  
David is lost.

What James didn't know until much later is that his mother had wanted a girl to balance out their three boys. She'd tried, at least once, to conceive another child, but the effort had ended early, with tears and blood.

She didn't try again.

James wonders now, occasionally, what that would've been like, having a sister. No hand-me-downs, Blue Birds instead of Cub Scouts. He wonders if that would have helped David, kept him from spinning off into his own mad universe. Sometimes he thinks she would've made all the difference; other times, that nothing could've kept his family from dashing onto the rocks.

He never asks what his sister's name would have been.

 

~fin  


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**(10 comments) - ([Post a new comment](http://community.livejournal.com/housefic/509955.html?mode=reply))**

  
  
  
  
  
  
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[](http://stellaalethia.livejournal.com/profile)[**stellaalethia**](http://stellaalethia.livejournal.com/)

2006-06-08 02:44 pm UTC  
([link](http://community.livejournal.com/housefic/509955.html?thread=3681027#t3681027))  
  
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I loved the way you compared the three boys together. And the way James wonders about a sister...lovely. Just one question, though- what's Blue Birds? Do zou perhaps mean Girl Scouts? I was a Scout, all the way to Senior and I don't remember Blue Birds... then again- could have that been the chapter for really young ones? *can't remember*

([Reply to this](http://community.livejournal.com/housefic/509955.html?replyto=3681027)) ([Thread](http://community.livejournal.com/housefic/509955.html?thread=3681027#t3681027))  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
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[](http://nightdog-barks.livejournal.com/profile)[**nightdog_barks**](http://nightdog-barks.livejournal.com/)

2006-06-08 03:03 pm UTC  
([link](http://community.livejournal.com/housefic/509955.html?thread=3681283#t3681283))  
  
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_... what's Blue Birds?_

Blue Birds are the little-kid version of Camp Fire Girls. When I was a child (back when dinosaurs roamed the earth, hee!) there was no Girl Scout troop nearby so I was in Camp Fire Girls instead.

It will be interesting to see if any former Camp Fire Girls recognize this!

Thanks for reading! You're my first reviewer ... heh!

([Reply to this](http://community.livejournal.com/housefic/509955.html?replyto=3681283)) ([Parent](http://community.livejournal.com/housefic/509955.html?thread=3681027#t3681027))([Thread](http://community.livejournal.com/housefic/509955.html?thread=3681283#t3681283))  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
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[](http://stagewench.livejournal.com/profile)[**stagewench**](http://stagewench.livejournal.com/)

2006-06-12 08:17 am UTC  
([link](http://community.livejournal.com/housefic/509955.html?thread=3698691#t3698691))  
  
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I was a blue bird! actulay I was a spark first, made it all the way up the ladder to horizon. not many of us around and they changed the format so there's no blue birds any more. nice to find in a fic.

([Reply to this](http://community.livejournal.com/housefic/509955.html?replyto=3698691)) ([Parent](http://community.livejournal.com/housefic/509955.html?thread=3681283#t3681283))([Thread](http://community.livejournal.com/housefic/509955.html?thread=3698691#t3698691))  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
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[](http://nightdog-barks.livejournal.com/profile)[**nightdog_barks**](http://nightdog-barks.livejournal.com/)

2006-06-13 04:37 am UTC  
([link](http://community.livejournal.com/housefic/509955.html?thread=3703043#t3703043))  
  
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_... I was a spark first ..._

See, I had no idea they'd changed the names! What a nice surprise.

_... nice to find in a fic._

*grins*  
Isn't it funny when that happens? When you see something you thought nobody else knew or thought about?

Thanks for reading!

([Reply to this](http://community.livejournal.com/housefic/509955.html?replyto=3703043)) ([Parent](http://community.livejournal.com/housefic/509955.html?thread=3698691#t3698691))  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
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[](http://nwcmwfan15.livejournal.com/profile)[**nwcmwfan15**](http://nwcmwfan15.livejournal.com/)

2006-06-08 04:16 pm UTC  
([link](http://community.livejournal.com/housefic/509955.html?thread=3682051#t3682051))  
  
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Guh. Gut-wrenching. And... that's about as much as I can think for right now. This deserves another read-through. (And another, and another...)

([Reply to this](http://community.livejournal.com/housefic/509955.html?replyto=3682051)) ([Thread](http://community.livejournal.com/housefic/509955.html?thread=3682051#t3682051))  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
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[](http://nightdog-barks.livejournal.com/profile)[**nightdog_barks**](http://nightdog-barks.livejournal.com/)

2006-06-08 04:56 pm UTC  
([link](http://community.livejournal.com/housefic/509955.html?thread=3682307#t3682307))  
  
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Thanks, **nwcmwfan15**!

([Reply to this](http://community.livejournal.com/housefic/509955.html?replyto=3682307)) ([Parent](http://community.livejournal.com/housefic/509955.html?thread=3682051#t3682051))  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
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[](http://ennui-blue-lite.livejournal.com/profile)[**ennui_blue_lite**](http://ennui-blue-lite.livejournal.com/)

2006-06-08 10:13 pm UTC  
([link](http://community.livejournal.com/housefic/509955.html?thread=3684611#t3684611))  
  
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Excellent job. I love the discription of David's paranoia at the Thanksgiving dinner, especially the line, "They'd thought he was kidding, at first. Being funny. He wasn't." I also like that you claimed David as the smartest of the three, when most anyone who watches the show would assume that James must be the smartest person in his family. It goes to show- just because your brain works quickly doesn't mean it works well.

([Reply to this](http://community.livejournal.com/housefic/509955.html?replyto=3684611)) ([Thread](http://community.livejournal.com/housefic/509955.html?thread=3684611#t3684611))  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
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[](http://nightdog-barks.livejournal.com/profile)[**nightdog_barks**](http://nightdog-barks.livejournal.com/)

2006-06-09 12:00 am UTC  
([link](http://community.livejournal.com/housefic/509955.html?thread=3685123#t3685123))  
  
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Many thanks, **ennui_blue_lite**! I'm glad you liked it.

_I love the discription of David's paranoia at the Thanksgiving dinner ..._

Sadly enough, that part was easy to write because something very similar happened in real life many years ago to a distant family member. It was the first time they knew something was wrong too.

_... when most anyone who watches the show would assume that James must be the smartest person in his family._

I'm thinking there's a lot we don't know about Wilson's family. Heh!

([Reply to this](http://community.livejournal.com/housefic/509955.html?replyto=3685123)) ([Parent](http://community.livejournal.com/housefic/509955.html?thread=3684611#t3684611))([Thread](http://community.livejournal.com/housefic/509955.html?thread=3685123#t3685123))  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
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[](http://sketchy-artist.livejournal.com/profile)[**sketchy_artist**](http://sketchy-artist.livejournal.com/)

2006-06-13 08:17 pm UTC  
([link](http://community.livejournal.com/housefic/509955.html?thread=3707651#t3707651))  
  
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_Sadly enough, that part was easy to write because something very similar happened in real life many years ago to a distant family member. It was the first time they knew something was wrong too._

Sorry to hear that. Something similar happened in my family and I used it in a House fic, too (also about Wilson reflecting on his brother...well, sort of). Fan fiction is so cathartic, yeah?

Anyway, I just wanted to leave some love for this story, since it's absolutely brilliant. Very deep and moving. I hope you write more in the future!

([Reply to this](http://community.livejournal.com/housefic/509955.html?replyto=3707651)) ([Parent](http://community.livejournal.com/housefic/509955.html?thread=3685123#t3685123))([Thread](http://community.livejournal.com/housefic/509955.html?thread=3707651#t3707651))  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
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[](http://nightdog-barks.livejournal.com/profile)[**nightdog_barks**](http://nightdog-barks.livejournal.com/)

2006-06-13 09:58 pm UTC  
([link](http://community.livejournal.com/housefic/509955.html?thread=3707907#t3707907))  
  
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_Fan fiction is so cathartic, yeah?_

Absolutely agree.

Many (shy) thanks for your lovely comments ... I'm writing steadily now and posting in this comm, [](http://community.livejournal.com/house_wilson/profile)[**house_wilson**](http://community.livejournal.com/house_wilson/), and my own writing LJ, [](http://nightdog-writes.livejournal.com/profile)[**nightdog_writes**](http://nightdog-writes.livejournal.com/).

([Reply to this](http://community.livejournal.com/housefic/509955.html?replyto=3707907)) ([Parent](http://community.livejournal.com/housefic/509955.html?thread=3707651#t3707651))  
  
  


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